Billy Shepherd knows something about getting buckets. A little more than 50 years ago, on a cold January night in Hendricks County, the Carmel star dropped 70 points on Brownsburg in a 117-69 Carmel win.

Shepherd, IndyStar Mr. Basketball in 1968, played in an era of offensive basketball. His brother, Dave Shepherd, set a single-season state record with 1,079 points for Carmel in 1969-70, a mark that stands today. Lebanon’s Rick Mount (1966), Washington’s George McGinnis (1969), Greenfield’s Mike Edwards (1969) and Scottsburg’s Billy James (1969) were other big-time scorers who came along in that same five-year window.

“Could you imagine if they had the 3-point line then?” Shepherd said. “A lot of guys fell by the wayside on the list who would still be up there.”

This is the age of a new scoring explosion in high school basketball. The career scoring list is going through an overhaul the likes of which has not seen since the late 1960s, when the top-five was made up of Lewisville’s Marion Pierce (1961), Mount, Billy Shepherd, Edwards and Dave Shepherd.

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New Albany's Romeo Langford is a highly-touted recruit being pursued by IU and others.
Dakota Crawford

New Albany’s Romeo Langford has already climbed to No. 4 with 2,652 points and could make a run at the top three, occupied by Damon Bailey of Bedford North Lawrence (3,134), Pierce (3,019) and Deshaun Thomas of Fort Wayne Luers (3,018).

But Langford is not the only one making headway. Tindley’s Eric Hunter sits at No. 12 through Wednesday with 2,358 points and could make a run at the top-five if the defending Class A state champion Tigers challenge for a repeat crown. It does not stop there.

Cloverdale’s Jalen Moore (2,064 points) should easily crack the top-20 in career scoring and Evansville Bosse’s Mekhi Lairy (1,936), McCutcheon’s Robert Phinisee (1,848) and South Bend Riley’s Damezi Anderson (1,773) all have a legitimate chance at the 2,000-point mark.

“I love it,” Shepherd said. “It’s an offensive game again. Records are made to be broken.”

Before this year’s senior class, only 49 boys players in state history had cracked 2,000 career points. The only graduating classes with more than two 2,000-point scorers were 2000 and 2012 – both had three. This class should have five. What gives?

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Highlights of Tindley guard Eric Hunter, who is headed to West Lafayette next season.
Matthew Glenesk / IndyStar

There might not be one specific answer. But Shepherd has few theories. Let’s explore:

The 3-point shot: The 3-pointer is not a new phenomenon. But in the years since John Toliver of Orleans made the first 3-point shot in Indiana high school basketball in November of 1987, it has become more and more of a weapon. Philosophies filter down from the NBA and college game, where “small ball” and reliance on the 3-pointer have become especially popular in recent seasons.

“The 3-point shot has completely changed the game,” Shepherd said.

Hunter, a Purdue recruit, shoots 42 percent from the 3-point line. Almost 40 percent of his shots come from beyond the arc.

“I see it with my own grandkids (in elementary school),” Shepherd said. “It used to be, ‘No, no, no,’ when they would shoot from out there. Now it is an accepted part of the game.”

Class basketball: It is perhaps notable that of the 11 players to crack the top-20 in career scoring since the beginning of class basketball in the 1997-98 season, all but one played at either Class A, 2A or 3A programs for either all or a majority of their high school career. Only New Albany’s Langford played at a 4A program.

While class basketball certainly does not diminish scoring accomplishments, the four-class setup gave smaller schools a better opportunity to make a tournament run. That meant more games and a better chance to climb the scoring ladder. Park Tudor’s Trevon Bluiett, for example, played in 22 tournament games from 2011-14 as the Panthers won three Class 2A state titles. Bluiett ranks No. 7 with 2,568 career points.

More games: Along those same lines, the Indiana High School Athletic Association allowed teams to schedule 22 regular-season games and no in-season tournament or 20 regular-season games and one tournament starting in the 2014-15 season. That was an increase of two games per season from the previous rule.

“Those extra games add up,” Shepherd said.

Career vs. single season: While the career scoring chart has changed significantly in the past decade, the single-season scoring chart has not. Bluiett scored exactly 1,000 points in the 2013-14 season to join Dave Shepherd (1,079), New Castle’s Steve Alford in 1982-83 (1,078) and Washington’s McGinnis in 1968-69 (1,019) as the third player to reach that mark.

But after Bluiett, the single-season chart has not changed much in 20 years. The only other player to crack 900 points in the class basketball era is Union Dugger’s Brody Boyd (904 points in 1999-2000). But Cloverdale’s Moore (690 points in 18 games) could make a run for it in the next month. So could Langford, who has 617 points in 17 games (he missed one due to injury).

Why has there been so much more movement on the career list compared to single season? Many of those on the career list started as freshmen at smaller schools and moved their way up. It could be surmised that more year-round basketball has players acclimated to play varsity competition as freshmen.

That is a guess. Shepherd does believe there is more of an emphasis on scoring and offense than there was 10 or 20 years ago.

“It’s nice to see it,” he said. “I love to see more offense in the game.”

Shepherd also shares a similar opinion of many who have seen Langford rewrite the record books in four years at New Albany.

“Romeo is right there at the top as far as players I’ve ever seen play,” he said.